Who is Echo Park and how long have you been acting on the Crafting Stage?
Echo
Park Paper has been in business for two years (it's actually our
anniversary this week). Echo Park Paper was founded by three friends
who, with 20 years of combined experience in the industry, wanted to
start a company that gave the store innovative and beautiful products.
Echo Park Paper focuses on open stock paper, stickers, collection kits
with add-ons such as 6" X 6" paper pads, Chipboard Accents, Layered
Chipboard, and Assorted Brads. Watch for additional items later this
year!

Please share with us a brief synopsis of the Echo Park story and don’t forget to tell us anything that sets you apart.
What
sets Echo Park Paper apart is the personal relationship we share with
our consumers and stores. We truly value those who use and sell our
products. (For more information, see our "About Us" section of the website.)

As owner, what part of your job gives you the most joy?
The
freedom to expand on ideas, work with the stores on an individual basis
to provide quality products, and see our products in use by the
consumers we care about.

Where do you think the papercraft industry is heading and what major trends do you see developing for 2012?
The
paper crafting industry is here to stay! People will always love
working with their hands, being creative, and sharing their hobbies with
others. This creative outlet is never going to go away. Without giving
away any secrets, Echo Park Paper is always developing new and
innovative products.

How do you use Social Media to keep your audience clapping?
Give
away STUFF!! We love the personal interaction we have with our
consumers. We make the effort to interact and engage with every member
on our Facebook page. We have a good time and obviously love what we do.

Thank-you
so much Madison - Echo Park have made an amazing impact on the industry
in the short time they have been around - and we can't wait to see what
the future has in store!

Challenge Winners
We have had some wonderful entries from you this month! Thank-you so much and these will also all be available to see in our online gallery here. [Please note if you sent more than one entry, only one may be shown here but they will all be online in the gallery]

Clarissa

Debbie

Erika

Julie

Karen W

Kathy C

Leigh

Sharon

Tash

Teryl

Vicki

New Entrant Winner - Sharon Dines
Sharon entered our contest for the first time and has some great photos to go with the bright Echo Park papers. She also incorporated the Summer Memories Theme too!

Challenge Winner - Teryl McKenzie
Teryl's
layout using Echo Park papers is also simple - but she has used the bright
paper and photos to great effect - we loved the pinwheel!

Ladies - please email me here with your address so we can get your prizes out to you!

Be sure to join us tomorrow when we launch our new Centre Stage manufacturer!
Please post a comment with any questions!

My homemade smashbook measures 5.5"x 4". It has 18 inside pages plus a front and back cover. Each double page spread has a photo or word prompt to record events relating to a wedding.

For example this page could be used to capture memories of the wedding registration. Other pages focus on the wedding venue, wedding flowers or the honeymoon.

When starting a 'big' project I find it helpful to decide early on the colour palette. In this case I limited myself to red, black, white and grey. That allows me to organize my supplies quickly.

I find that repeating layout elements gives my Smashbook pages a coordinated look. Here I stuck to the principle of dividing my double pages into four panels.

On some spreads, as in these honeymoon pages, they are divided equally along horizontal bands. On others they are divided vertically into unequal portions.

I used a range of pattern papers to provide variety. Geometrics like houndstooth, polka dots and closely printed text were used. Organic designs like repeating florals and swirly flourished added to the contrast.

Stickers are great for adding instant interest to a page. Don't limit yourself to small images and labels, large ones which dominate a spread can impart great impact when used boldly.

As for the construction of the book, it couldn't be simpler. I cut cardstock into two 5.5"x8" spreads, fold each spread in half and glue the backs together.

If you wish to take a closer look, my smashbook is on display in the store together with other Echo Park projects from the design team. Hope you've enjoyed our Centre Stage focus on Echo Park this month and don't forget to check back tomorrow for exciting April news !

Friday, March 30, 2012

Hi, Louise here with a little mini album to share made up from Echo Park This & That "Charming" Collection.

I am going to keep this fairly short and sweet as it is a short and sweet album :)
It has more pages than shown here but I am sharing my favourites as I really don't want to be taking up a huge amount of space with loads of page photos when you can get the idea from a few.

So here goes...........

First up we have the cover page, I like the chipboard sticker as it saved me making a title ;) I layered the back with a tag from the Journaling Cards sheet and cut the shape behind using an old peice of chipboard as a stencil, I have repeated this shape throughout the album. The pennant border I cut from paper scraps left over at the end of the project.

I used the label stencil again here to mark out oun the page then cut with a scalpel. If you look closely at the left hand corner you can see where I use packaging off the chip stickers to firm up my overhanging bits. The sticker sheet was used on this page.

A far more serious look for William here, embellished with stickers. It was so easy to make this album with the Charming Collection kit as everything was right there in the package ready to use, I just had to add the co-ordinating chipboard stickers.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Good morning. Lindsey again and this week I have been wondering why there are never enough "e's" in my sets of letter stickers. Usually I want to put a title on my layouts. Somehow it seems to look incomplete without one - even if it is just a small one. However, if I want a standout title, I'm going to want some biggish letters.

I like nothing better than peeling off exactly the letters I need from a sheet. They are the right colour, size and font to match the page. When this happens, I am very happy. It's quick and convenient. What I do not like is being left with a lot of letters which I can't seem to use up though.

I think I mentioned before that, once you get to this stage, it's better to just store each of the letter diecuts or stickers separately. It's more likely that they will get used up - you don't want to be throwing away all those lonely, left-behind consonants. You can paint them or ink them - even heat emboss them - if they need to be a different colour. Why not sprinkle some glitter on the top? Go over them with silvery paint and make them look like metal. Also the thing is that, if you store all the "a's" together, all the "b's" together etc, there's no reason why you shouldn't construct a page title out of mismatched letters. Who says they all have to match? It's fun to make up a quirky, mismatched title with different letters.

Mixture of Echo Park papers and letters from Sizzix and Quickutz.

I do believe that expenditure on ways of cutting out your own alphabets is money well spent. Of course, it takes more time to cut out the individual letters rather than just peeling them off a sheet - but you never run out of "e's" and you are more likely to get the colour, size and style that you really want.

Basically, you can just draw the letters and cut them out - there's nothing cheaper than that. If you aren't happy or confident with that approach you can use alphabet stamps - foam, rubber or acrylic. Stamp these onto card or paper and cut around those.

I have kept one particularly useful size chipboard alphabet intact purely to draw around and use as a template. Alternatively, you can buy plastic stencils and templates such as the ones from Crafters Workshop.

Then I guess, top of the range, would be the alphabet dies. At the moment I have some Sizzix, Cuttlebug, Tim Holtz and Quickutz dies and they are all well used. It's taken many years to accumulate all these but they are a really good investment and they are tough too so the kids can safely use them.

Finally, here's a wee card I've made for a couple of special girlies for the Easter holidays. I was thinking of making a series of these with little ideas inside for special stuff to do when they are off school. This one is a promise to go for icecreams at a lovely place which I know sells gorgeous gluten free concoctions. Inside there are a couple of tickets to that effect. I was thinking that maybe half a dozen of these promising things like a picnic, a trip to the cinema, a trip to the local country park to feed the swans - you get the general idea. I think it will be really exciting for them to open their postbox one morning and find one of these cards.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Hi Everyone. Lisa here. Today I have my last post for the month focusing on Echo Park. Oh how I have enjoyed working with Echo Park products. Today is no exception in fact I will go as far to say that the 'This & That - Graceful' range comes very close to be some of my most very favourite paper to date! I love the soft, vintage feel of the range & the colour combinations are fabulous.

First up I want to share a layout with you. I had this layout planned out in my head as soon as I saw the papers...dreamy...Yes obsessive, I know. I used a Chocolate brown piece of Bazzill card stock as the base of the layout. Hard to photograph! lol. Looks lovely in the flesh though, dramatic yet soft with the softer greens & pinks.
Lots of layering, inking & prettiness.

A couple of pretty cards...I have used the fabulous Bazzill card stock that Liz put in the kit as the card base. The colour is called Flamingo - so pretty!

I also made this project with contents from the kit. You may have seen this mini album/card on our recent blog hop we did with Echo Park.

I have still lots of bits & pieces left over from the kit - even after making all of these things! This kit was so well put together, I only added a little bit of string from my stash & used some punches & inks! We are hoping to be able to have this kit in the shop, watch this space. If not we have lots of other great kits for sale.

YOU COULD WIN a new Echo Park Mini Theme Collection Pack
or the kit used to create these This and That Graceful projects by
leaving us a comment on either this post or on Guest DT Linda Auclairs' post - telling us YOUR favorite Echo Park Collection of
all time! (Please comment by Midnight NZ time - this Friday to qualify for the draw)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Good morning to you all.
Betsy here again with some more Echo Park cards which I would like to share.
Wow, what an amazing experience it has been to be part of the blog hop we have just had with Echo Park!
I have so enjoyed it, just receiving all the wonderful comments has been an absolute bonus. Again, I thank you all for joining us over this past week.
Having picked up another two Echo Park packs last time I was in at Artfull Crafts, I could hardly wait to get started on them - here are some of the results. What's your verdict ladies?
The first three are from the lovely Melody of Life range - love it.

The next two are another range from Echo Park, Hello Spring.

Hello Spring is really a fun collection - bright and cheery. Just love those gumboots!
All from me today, happy crafting to you all and thank you for taking the time to check this out.

Leave a comment at the end of this post telling me which card is your favourite and I will put you in the draw to win one of these Charming Kits for free! You have until Friday at Midnight (my time) to make a comment.

Also over on my Blog - Christine B Creates - I have a couple more cards and a layout I made using the 'leftovers' from the kit, so pop on over there and have a look.